Allan McNish, last year's world champion and winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours with Audi will enjoy this year's race from the grandstands. Photograph: Richard White

Even upon reaching its 82nd edition, the allure of the world’s oldest and greatest endurance race shows no sign of diminishing. Indeed, the front-end of the grid for this years Le Mans 24 Hours boast a formidable line-up, with three manufacturers, Audi, Toyota and Porsche all entering works teams. Yet, certainly for British fans, one staple of this mighty test will be missing for the first time in a decade. Having ensured he has written himself into the glorious history of the race and confident that it and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) of which it is part, are in increasingly rude health, Allan McNish is content now to let the next generation fight for one of motor racing’s ultimate prizes, a fight he believes will not disappoint when the twice-round-the-clock endurance classic begins on Saturday.

McNish brought his illustrious sports car career to a close when he retired at the end of last season. He did so on a high, as FIA WEC world champion, on the way to which he had won Le Mans for the third time (both alongside team-mates Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval). It was the end of his long affair with this unique motor race. He competed in the first of his 14 races here in 1997 for Porsche and won a year later for the marque – their last victory in the top class before their return this year with Mark Webber at the wheel. He raced in 1999 for Toyota (with whom he would drive in F1) and then Audi in 2000. He returned for the latter in 2004 as they went on to make the race their own, with 12 wins in fifteen years. McNish won again for them in 2008 and finished his tenth race in a row with the victory last year. But he is resolutely not misty-eyed about being on the other side of the fence this year.

“I am not a person who looks back,” he said. “I never look back, but there’s a lot of emotions from Le Mans, good and bad, it’s been a great place for me but also a painful place. That’s the way the race is.” A truism both veteran drivers and fans know too well, it is part of the attraction of the 24, difficult, unforgiving, unpredictable, a race where nothing can be taken for granted, factors that make a win here all the sweeter.

Yet it is also a race that combines a long heritage back to 1923 with a reputation for innovation that is now stronger than ever. “The race has kept very close links to its history as well as keeping up with the future.” said McNish. “It is still very basic: who can go the furthest over 24 hours? But it still has that open rule book philosophy – that if you believe you can do something better, with different technology, you can do it.

“There’s always going to be innovation that comes out of it. In the past it was disc brakes and windscreen wipers, today it’s hybrid technology energy recovery systems.”

An opportunity for innovation that has seen the race and the WEC burgeoning in popularity with manufacturers. As well as the three at the front this year, Nissan will return to the top LMP1 category with a prototype next year after they officially announced their well-known intention to do so earlier this month. Ferrari, whose last overall winner was in 1965 before Ford’s mighty GT40 muscled them aside (and who last ran a prototype in 1973) but who have never really left in terms of contesting at the front of the GT field, are also expected to return to the top class, with chairman Luca di Montezemolo recently suggesting it was a matter of when rather than if. While Mazda, currently still the only Japanese marque to have won Le Mans, with the Johnny Herbert-driven, Wankel rotary-engined 787B in 1991, are strongly expected to announce a comeback in the near future.

“The manufacturers are flooding towards it,” said McNish. “They see the benefits in that they can come with creative technology, a different solution to anyone else. That’s why sports cars and Le Mans especially are becoming so big for them. It’s a format that breeds creativity and breeds different thinking to the norm, and proves that there are different ways to do things.”

“That the FIA and Le Mans organisers the Automobile Club de l’Ouest have come up with regulations strict enough to police but open enough to not only allow creativity, but encourage it, is simply unparalleled in international motorsport,” he said.

“These systems are using cutting-edge electronic control systems for hybrid, throttle and braking functions. Already the lessons learned are breaking onto road car thinking,” he added.

“These are solutions that give us racing at 200mph-plus four times a lap at Le Mans, covering over 3500km on one engine and gearbox, at lap times the same as last year but using less fuel. Now that’s a relevant dividend from racing. They sound great too.”

But this variety of approach – this year the three top teams field three different power trains (see below for details) and will race according to an energy consumption per-lap formula that has cut fuel usage by up to 30% – should not impair the racing, believes McNish. “There are different ways to recuperate energy, different points to use the extra boost, you don’t have to do it all in the same place,” he explained. “Strategy will dictate where you save it and use it, so there will be quite a lot of things going on in the background to optimise that usage, that will change the way the racing happens but it seems to be pretty close and it seems to be allowing wheel-to-wheel racing.”

Racing that thus far this season has seen Toyota on top with wins at both Silverstone and Spa and makes the Japanese marque pre-race favourites as they bid for their first win here. They were quickest at test day where Audi too improved after a sluggish start to the season, while Porsche probably have more pace to come than they displayed on their first run at La Sarthe. But these are all just early indicators, the race itself affords a test unlike any other. “The track is the challenge,” said McNish. “The circuit itself is significantly quicker than anywhere else we go to. In terms of its top speed its faster and the average speed is a lot quicker.”

“It’s high-speed in nature and also there’s the length. You disappear off into the countryside for 3 minutes 25 seconds and in that period you’ve done eight and a half miles.

“So in terms of approach, everything is high-speed and you have to have maximum focus, there is no run-off area, there is no get out of jail card. If you make a mistake at Le Mans, it bites.”

Of which he has first-hand experience after a major crash in 2011 but which has not dimmed his fondness for some of the Circuit de la Sarthe’s special challenges. “I love the entry through the right-hander into the tight left of Indianapolis just before Arnage,” he said. “It is absolutely stunning. There’s two ways to go through it: you can either brake at the apex and hang on to the thing as its dancing around and try to get it slowed down – you’re coming in at over 200 miles an hour – or to lift off and progressively go on the brakes. But whichever way it’s a corner where a driver can really make a difference. The way you attack it is where you can gain time and pick up a couple of tenths over the competition.”

Competition that will miss the hard-charging driver, although fans will no doubt show their appreciation when he leads the formation lap around before Fernando Alonso waves the starting flag at 2pm on Saturday. At which point, for McNish, at last, it will be enough. “I had my time here and I loved it,” he said. “But I’m enjoying moving on. Somebody else has to do the hard work now, I get to sleep through the night.”

Qualifying for the race is on Wednesday 11 June at 9pm and Thursday 12 June at 6pm and 9pm, the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours begins on Saturday 14 June at 2pm and will be live on British Eurosport and RadioLeMans.com.

ALLAN MCNISH’S GUIDE TO THE BIG THREE

AUDI

The Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Photograph: Richard White

Car: R18 e-tron quattro

The Audi runs the same system I drove last year. A diesel-engine with a hybrid system that harvests energy from the front wheels, which is stored in a flywheel that sits beside the driver. It is then redistributed to the front wheels for acceleration coming out of the corners.

Drivers

No1: Lucas di Grassi; Loïc Duval; Tom Kristensen

No2: Marcel Fässler; André Lotterer; Benoît Tréluyer

No3: Filipe Albuquerque; Marco Bonanomi; Oliver Jarvis

Audi have won 12 times from the last 15 attempts, they have a great history at Le Mans, it’s like a second home. The driver line-ups are strong and experienced. Tom has been there, seen it and done it with nine wins at Le Mans. Loïc, team mate to Tom and I last year, is probably the single quickest over one lap and more of a complete driver this year – he has real confidence. Lucas hasn’t been in the team long but does have F1 experience.

André, Ben and Marcel, who won the race in both 2011 and 2012, have been together a few years, they understand each other inside out, they play on each others strengths and support each other’s weaknesses. Those two crews are strong and can stand up to anybody in pace and experience and their sheer wileyness.

Some people call the third car a back up but I think it is the opportunity car. Filipe, Marco and Oliver have been with Audi quite a long time but this gives them the chance to learn Le Mans without the pressure of fighting for a world championship and a chance to show what they can do. The No3 car may host the younger squad but they are clearly fast because their’s was the quickest of the three Audis at the test weekend.

The simple fact that every other team knows going in to this race is that to win Le Mans you still have to beat Audi.

Toyota have chosen a normally-aspirated V8 petrol-engined car (the Audi has a single turbo). It harnesses energy from the rear wheels and transfers it to a super-capacitor which allows them to store quite a lot of energy and distribute it across all four wheels.

Drivers:

No7: Alexander Wurz; Stéphane Sarrazin; Kazuki Nakajima

No8: Anthony Davidson; Nicolas Lapierre; Sébastien Buemi

In their third year of competition in the WEC, They’ve been quick since they came into sports car racing but haven’t quite got it together either in the world championship or Le Mans, but this year they’ve done very well. They have a good understanding of the car. It’s probably their best year to try and win Le Mans – they have to do it this year but I can see the two cars having an intense rivalry. Both crews realise this is probably their best chance as well, and from the way the two cars interacted at the last couple of races there’s not too much love lost.

Alex has been the backbone of their challenge in terms of his experience and his understanding of what’s required. Having won it twice he knows what he’s doing at Le Mans. The one that has surprised me is Kazuki Nakajima, he’s been fantastically quick when he’s had to and is really impressive.

In the other No8 car, Buemi is fast and aggressive – although he has not necessarily made a lot of friends along the way – Anthony has been around a long time and been a bridesmaid at some of these races for a few years although not necessarily through any fault of his own. They’ve been clearly on top of their game this year, won the first two races, go into it as favourites and must look at themselves as favourites.

They’ve gone with a very small two-litre, V4 direct-injected, turbo-charged engine and a twin hybrid system. One part that recuperates from the front axle like the Audi but another that also does so from the turbo charger, as with the current F1 cars, then stores the energy in lithium-ion batteries.

Drivers:

No14: Romain Dumas; Neel Jani; Marc Lieb

No20: Timo Bernhard; Mark Webber; Brendon Hartley

Porsche are 16 years too late coming back. Mark, like Porsche, really should be at Le Mans and it’s great that they are here again. They surprised in the first races because they were very fast, with a huge top speed because they have gone with a very light downforce package. They will be quick when it comes to qualifying and the race but it’s unlikely that they will be there for 24 hours.

When I won for the team the last time they were in the top class in 1998, the car was robust. It was big and strong but that meant it had to compromise on pure performance but at the time that was the best way to do it. Nowadays things have changed and it’s got to be light, agile, to have fantastic performance and it’s got to be totally reliable to win Le Mans and I don’t think they will have that package for this year.

They’ve gone with a very aggressive driving strategy. Signing Mark was a clear signal of where they wanted to go and that they wanted to be successful. But it’s not only Mark, Timo, I know very well, he’s a stunning little driver as is Romain. They’ve also brought in Brendon, a young kid with a lot of fire, so they have a mix but clearly an aggressive line up as opposed to a conservative one.